Umbrella



April 12, 1955 F. J. MAZZEO UMBRELLA Filed April 1, 1954 IN V EN TOR.

United States Patent UMBRELLA Frank I. Mazzeo, New York, N. Y.

Application April 1, 1954, Serial No. 420,295

4 Claims. (Cl. 135-40) This invention relates generally to umbrella construction and more particularly to the spring retainer or catch mechanism employed to retain the runner or sleeve rib carrier in umbrella opening or umbrella closing position, respectively, and is an improvement over the spring retainer or catch mechanism used in my Letters Patent Number 2,507,919, granted May 16, 1950.

In opening and closing an umbrella or parasol, difiiiculty is sometimes experienced in retaining the same in the desired open or closed position due to faulty construction of the spring retainer mechanism. Furthermore, it is desirable to make this spring retainer as simple in construction as possible and with few parts and one which can be readily and easily inserted in position, and locked or secured in such position.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide in an umbrella or parasol, very practical, eflicient and economical spring retainer mechanism to retain the riding runner or sleeve rib carrier in one of its extreme positions.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a housing for the retaining spring which can be easily inserted in the hollow shaft or tubular staff of the umbrella and which is provided with tabs or wings punched out of the housing engageable with the inside wall of the hollow shaft for grippingly maintaining the complete assembly in fixed position.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide the aforementioned housing with a cover plate for the forward end thereof, thus protecting the plunger operation of the finger piece and spring in the housing.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification and referring to the accompanying drawings, which form a material part of this disclosure.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangements of parts, which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter described, and of which the scope will be indicated by the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a longitudinal view of the center portion of the hollow shaft of an umbrella or parasol with the runner or sleeve rib carrier in its upper locked position and indicating the upper and lower retaining or look springs;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken through line 22 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of Fig. 2 showing the spring lock finger piece in depressed condition;

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a bottom View of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 7 is a view of a retaining spring housing showing the invention in a modified form.

Referring now in more detail to the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates the hollow shaft or tubular stafi of an umbrella or parasol embodying the invention provided with the runner or sleeve rib carrier which is adapted to slide or ride up and down the shaft 10. The rib carrier indicated by the numeral 11 is provided with cut-outs 12 into which the lower ends of the ribs 13 fit in conventional manner. The cut-outs are formed in a ring 14 which is a part of the sleeve 11. Sleeve 11 preferably has upper and lower flared portions 15, 16, respectively. The reduced center portion 17 readily adapts itself to the positioning of the fingers of a hand used when 2,705,968 Patented Apr. 12, 1955 opening and closing the umbrella. The longitudinal slot 18 extends into flared portions 15, 16. The upper edge 19 of slot 18 will contact the surface 20 of the finger piece 21 of upper lock spring 22 when the umbrella is in open position, while the lower edge 23 of the slot 18 will contact the surface 24 of the finger member 25 of the lower lock spring mechanism 26, when the umbrella is in closed position. Since both the lock spring mechanisms 22 and 26 are identical in construction (the only difference being that one is reversed relative to the other) only the bottom or lower lock spring retainer mechanism 26 will be described.

As shown in Figs. 2 to 6, inclusive, the lower lock spring retainer or catch mechanism includes the finger member 25 in the form of a spring wire, one end 27 of which enters the shaft 10 through the opening 28. This end 27 of the wire 25 may be bent as at 29 or otherwise secured. This forms the pivot point of the finger piece or member 25. The wire 25 enters opening 28 as a press fit, thus avoiding moisture or water from entering the hollow portion 30 of shaft 10.

The lower portion 31 of finger piece or wire 25 is bent angularly with relation to its longitudinal portion 25a and enters the cylindrical housing 32 for sliding movement therein. Secured to the end of lower portion 31 of the finger piece is a thrust plate or head 33 against which one end of a helical spring 34 bears, while the other end of said spring 34 abuts against a pin or stop 35 secured to the wall of the housing 32. Housing 32 is made of resilient material and has struck from its wall the tabs or Wings 36 which abut against the inner wail of hollow shaft 10 after the housing is inserted therein. Two or more tabs or wings 36 may be provided.

A cover or closure plate 37 conforming in contour with that of the outer surface of wall of shaft 10 is provided to close the opening in the shaft after insertion of housing 32. As seen in Fig. 7, the end 38 of housing 39 may be shaped to conform to the contour of the inner wall of shaft 10, making a very smooth and tight fit for the housing in shaft 10.

From the foregoing it is quite evident that there has been provided a lock spring retainer or catch mechanism in assembled form ready for application to the shaft of an umbrella or parasol. This assembly may be manufactured as a unit for attachment to the umbrella shaft. This assembly or unit comprises finger piece 25, housing 32, spring 34 and cover plate 37, the finger piece having its lower bent end extending through an opening in cover plate 37 and slidably operable in plunger-like fashion within housing 32 by means of spring 34. To fixedly position this unit with respect to shaft 10, all that is necessary is to first insert end 27 of finger piece 25 in hole 28 of shaft 10, then insert the housing 32 in the opening provided therefor in shaft 10. The tabs or wings 36 will press down during insertion of the housing and after insertion thereof will spring upward as clearly seen in Figs. 2 and 3.

I claim:

1. A retainer for the sliding rib carrier of an umbrella having a hollow shaft on which the carrier is slidable, said shaft having a transverse opening in its wall; said retainer comprising a housing having an opening in one end thereof, an angular finger piece one end of which is adapted for pivotal engagement with said wall of said shaft and the other end of which is slidably received in said housing through said one end, resilient means within said housing in engagement with said other end of said finger piece and adapted to urge said other end outwardly, said finger piece being provided with stop means to retain the end of said finger piece in engagement with said resilient means within said housing, resilient tabs extending angularly from the external wall of said housing adapted to be depressed upon insertion of said housing in said transverse opening of said shaft and to expand after insertion thereof, and a plate connected to said end of said housing adapted to abut against the external wall of said shaft when said housing is inserted in said transverse opening, said plate having a perforation to allow the forward portion of the said other end of said finger piece to move therein.

2. A retainer according to claim 1, wherein said how a 3 4 Lag hafs flan inner encll whichd cclalnforms in contour with References Cited in the file of this patent at o e inner wal of sai s aft.

3. A retainer according to claim 2, wherein said re- UNITED STATES PATENTS silient means is a helical spring and said tabs comprise 218,243 Drown Aug. 5, 1879 material struck from the wall of said housing. 5 432,887 Micatz July 22, 1890 4. A retainer according to claim 1, wherein said re- 968,270 Schumacher Aug. 23, 1910 silient means is a helical spring and said tabs comprise 2,507,919 Mazzeo May 16, 1950 material struck from the wall of said housing, and wherem FOREIGN PATENTS the contour of said plate conforms to that of the external I wall of said shaft. 10 1,625 Great Britain June 29, 1864 

